Pete the Beagle and his door bell

London Trip

In February our destination of choice was the UK.  Unusual, I know to decide to visit at such a cold time of year, but with the imminent arrival of our new niece it seemed like a good choice. We decided to spend a night in London which we never ever do, and the kids have never been.   I had booked a beautiful hotel and  booked up to see a show (disaster!  booked the tickets for the wrong night) and we gave the kids a brief tour of the London highlights by tube and bus which was a first for them.

So, the London trip turned out to be an expensive night in London for no reason.  We then proceeded to Birmingham for the weekend before making our way to Swansea for the week. And who could have predicted that we would not have a drop of rain in the whole ten days! Plus the bonus was, baby Lowri Beau arrived early (30th Jan) and was ready to receive lots of hugs and kisses from The Webbs.  

Billy, Lawrence & Bethan

Big Billy & Big Ben

Tired and jet lagged

The wedding of my neighbors brother's son.....

Living on a small community as we do, and most of the houses being occupied by Indian families, we are privileged to be invited to join in many events such as weddings that we may otherwise not witness.

Indian families save all their lives to pay for their daughters weddings, and the process usually takes place over a number of days.  There may be an evening for the men, an event for the ladies and then the finale being where all and sundry are invited.

On this occasion we were invited to the wedding of our neighbor's brother's son, in other words our neighbors nephew.

At the bus stop on the morning of the wedding, we were gently reminded that the wedding was taking place that morning, and those of us who were going assured him of our presence.  

The timing of the wedding is dictated by the readings of those in the know (!!).  Today it was 11:00, a civilised time.  (This morning there was a wedding at 6:30am)  A few of us decided to go together otherwise it can be a little overwhelming.  We were greeted by our neighbor who was pleased that we had shown up.  Entering into the wedding venue, the guests are divided into males on one side and females on the other.  We duly proceed to our seats.  Being the only 3 westerners at the event our attendance does not go unnoticed.  We are smiled at in a welcoming manner, children feel comfortable to come to chat with us whereas the parents just look on.

The wedding party are on the stage, a throng of extended family, a group of men banging drums loundly.  Not quite sure of the signifigance of the whole set up.  The bride and groom come onto the stage and at a certain point the guests begin to line up to congratulate the newly weds.  The men lead the way.  A handful of rice is taken from a large bowl and when it is your turn to congratulate the couple, you sprinkle the rice over the heads of the newly weds, who are probably wondering who I am.  They are welcoming, and receive the best wishes gracefully. From this point we are guided to the food hall.  Many faces watch to see if we can stomach the indian spices.  The food is delicious.  I keep a glass of water at hand, as the food is prepared for local tastes and is a tad too spicy for me.  It almost seems we eat and leave, but that is done by many.  We thank our host, and the actual father of the groom before taking our leave.  Another experience of the welcoming culture in which we currently live.

Children love to have their photo taken even though they will never see the photos itself.

A handful of rice, this time with pearls mixed in with it

The Bride and Groom

The chairs for the Bride and Groom

The entourage on the stage

local Indian school at Ellora Caves

Beth & Lawrence taking the easy option 

Billy

John - DO NOT LOOK DOWN FROM HERE

The little luxuries of life in India

Train Trip

A few weeks ago we went on our second Indian train trip.  This time to Aurangabad from where we visited the heritage sites of Ajanta and Ellora Caves.  Having participated in last year's trip to Hampi, organised by our local expat group we were pretty well versed in what to expect on the journey, the train ride in particular.  We left Hyderabad at 1:30 on the Friday afternoon and arrived at our destination at midnight.  Not being the novices anymore we were well prepared; scrabble board, wine, food and books soon whiled away the 10 hours or so.

Sugar intake during the sight seeing

Inside the train carriage

The carriage, or bogey as they are know by here,  was booked for us (65 members of the TEA group) alone and was a second class, 3 tier AC carriage.  This means that there is AC (thank god!) and that there are 3 levels of bunks on each side of the compartment and 2 bunks on the narrow side of the aisle.  No doors separate the compartments so much better to do this trip when you are friendly with the other travelers.

There were about 20 kids on the trip and they all behaved exceptionally well.  For  the most part of the journey they swing from the upper most bunks having fun, and only  occasionally need reminding to avoid heads below.

At the station we (the group) are looked upon in a strange, though not unfriendly fashion.  It is not that often that such a large group of foreigners are seen hanging around the platform.

Here is a pic of Bethan hauling her luggage up the steps of the station.  Bless her, she is so good for a 7 year old!

The following morning, we took a 2 hour bus ride from Aurangabad to Ajenta where some of the caves dated back to 6th century BC.  These cave were hidden for hundreds of years and were rediscovered by some member of the British military in 1839.  They are what is known as dug in caves, meaning they have been carved in through a rock face.  The intricate detail within is pretty amazing and some are decorated with beautiful paintings.  Having visited Petra in Jordan the month before I was slightly 'caved out', but could not help marvel at the skill and determination of how these magnificent caves were made.

The same day we also visited Daulatabad Fort, which was like visiting the place where all the designers of computer games must go for their ideas.  Moats, bridges, secret passages, hide outs, places from which boiling oil was poured (or so we were told!) lol.   The rule was at every junction you came to, to reach the top of the hill, you had to turn right, turning left would lead you to a dead end (maybe in more ways than one....)

Had a problem with loading some photos (or rather, in the order they have loaded) so will post some extra photos in the next post.

The Sunday saw us climbing on board the bus again, and this time visiting the site of Ellora Caves.  These caves were equally as amazing as the Ajanta Caves, but some of them were different in the fact that they were 'dug out' caves, meaning they started from above and dug down into the rock.  In the picture below you can see how they dug down in a big square shape, leaving a block in the centre which was then carved in intricate detail.

Lawrence and Nikhil enjoying all the sites had to offer

Fresh Juice Indian style